music lawyer/contract

[stuarta]

Hello,I've just been forwarded my first contract from a music library. Most of it is written in 'martian' so I need a music lawyer to run a professional eye over it. Can anyone recommend a music lawyer I can deal with by email? How much do these people charge? regards,Stuart.

[gitarrero]

contrats to the deal!A free alternative is to use the lawyers of your PRO - I don't know if that is possible in you country (where do you hail from?), but it works here in Switzerland quite well, plus I educated myself over the past 2 or 3 years. It also depends on what laws (from which country) the contract is based on - the US has some other basics and understandings than Europe, for example.I woudn't recomend it with something bigger like a record deal - maybe someone here on the board knows a good entertainment lawyer. However I find music library deals not that complicated.hope that helps a little bit.cheers,Martin

[Casey H]

Hi Congrats!I think the Songwriter's Guild of America (SGA) offers a free contract review to it's members. Membership is inexpensive. Casey

[zircon]

stuarta, how much is this deal worth? An entertainment attorney can run between $200 and $600 USD per hour (depending on where you live). If a few hours with a lawyer will cost a big chunk of your deal, then it might not even be worth it. If you would like, I can glance at the contract; I've signed a few library deals myself, under the guidance of legal aid, plus music business and law is something I am studying for my degree here.

[stuarta]

Thanks for the help and suggestions . I think I have it sussed now, except for one thing; the contract wants to re-title the track. Any ideas why a company would want to do that? The re-title is a line taken from the song but it doesn't really reflect what the song is about. From the Taxi critiques I have received, I know that the song title is something that screeners comment on. By the way, the level of help and support in this forum is first class. Thank you. cheers,Stuart.

[zircon]

For music libraries, often times they like to rename tracks to make them more marketable. A more abstract title might not be descriptive to a potential buyer.

[stuarta]

Thanks zircon, you're a champion.best regards,Stuart.

[Casey H]

HiMany music libraries re-title tracks so as to handle your song non-exclusively and not take all publishing for a track. This usually is a good thing. They only take publishing royalties on the re-titled version, leaving you free to market your original track elsewhere and collect under the original song name.So sometimes it doesn't have to do with marketing. Some even title your track under relatively obscure names such as "track-001-004a".Good luck again! Casey

[zircon]

Interesting! I suppose it depends on the exact library. In the deals I've had, they said they were renaming the material to more genre-descriptive titles; "Hard Techno", "Uptempo Groove", etc. so that people would know what they were getting.

[Casey H]

Quote:Interesting! I suppose it depends on the exact library. In the deals I've had, they said they were renaming the material to more genre-descriptive titles; "Hard Techno", "Uptempo Groove", etc. so that people would know what they were getting.Yes, that too, so I shouldn't have said it's not about the marketing. However, it is also used a lot for non-exclusivity.Stuart: Is your deal exlusive or non-exclusive?